Two years ago I went to a wedding party in the UK, held at a friend’s bar in a basement. As I went down in the lift to join the crowd below, he moaned “I spent £25,000 putting this lift in 12 months back and you’re the first person to use it.”
Under-use of dedicated & expensive facilities for the disabled is probably quite common – as is his view. Both need some context to understand:
Firstly, the main reason I was the first to use his lift, is born out of a history of inaccessibility. Wheelchair users historically have been so poorly catered for, when it comes to access, that they actually expect places like basement bars not to have lifts. So they don’t venture out to these places.
Secondly, my bar-owning friend has never had the business case for creating a more accessible bar made to him. He has always assumed that making his bar accessible to those with mobility problems would just cost him money.
He has never been told that the value of the disabled dollar is substantial. If this point had been made to him more convincingly, he might have been more than comfortable spending that sum on a lift if it would help him attract more business.
I relate this tale because it helps to illustrate that understanding the business case is key to convincing providers of goods and services to spend more on accessibility.
Levels of access across London will be tested during the Paralympics over the next few days. Access is not good. Citing the age and size of its infrastructure as reasons for inaccessibility is less than half the story.
The other more important reason is that the value of the disabled wallet has never been fully made clear.
